I decided to give a whirl at a vegetarian recipe that I’ve been wanting to do for quite some time now. A vegetarian red curry! If you’re not vegetarian, you could easily add some fatty cuts of meat to this to make even more flavor come out and add more protein to the dish.
For being ready in just under 20 minutes, this turned out to have some incredible flavors. The “fish” sauce definitely comes through, which I love, and adds a more authentic flavor to all of it. Allowing the curry paste to cook and caramelize a little bit releases all of the aromatics in the spices which allows all of those delicious smells to flow through the coconut milk and bring everything together nicely. The onion will add a hint of sweetness, just enough to keep those pungent flavors at bay – leaving the umami and saltiness of everything to play over your taste buds as you eat.
If you need to cut carbs from this, you can easily use coconut milk from the carton (which is only 1g carb per cup). Leaving you room to add more vegetables or tofu, making this more wholesome and ready to be transformed into a dinner recipe! You can also sub out the onion if you’re not a fan, and go with a sweetener of your choice, but I think the sweetness from the onion and the flavor it brings is important to have.
Yields 2 servings of Vegetarian Red Coconut Curry
The Preparation
- 1 cup broccoli florets
- 1 large handful of spinach
- 4 tablespoons coconut oil
- ¼ medium onion
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon minced ginger
- 2 teaspoons Fysh sauce
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon red curry paste
- ½ cup coconut cream (or coconut milk)
The Execution
1. Add 2 tbsp. coconut oil to a pan and bring to medium-high heat.
2. Chop onions and mince garlic while you wait. When the oil is hot, add the onion to the pan and let it sizzle. Allow it to cook for 3-4 minutes to caramelize and become semi-translucent. Once this happens, add the garlic to the pan and let it brown slightly. About 30 seconds.
3. Turn the heat to medium-low and add broccoli florets to the pan. aStir everything together well. Let the broccoli take on the flavors of the onion and garlic. This should take about 1-2 minutes.
4. Move everything in your pan to the side and add 1 tbsp. red curry paste. You want this hitting the bottom of the pan so that all of the flavors can be released from the spices.
5. Once your red curry paste starts to smell pungent, mix everything together again and add a large handful of spinach over the top.
6. Once the spinach begins to wilt, add coconut cream and mix together.
7. Stir everything together and then add 2 tbsp. more coconut oil, 2 tsp. fysh sauce, 2 tsp. soy sauce, and 1 tsp. minced ginger. Let this simmer for 5-10 minutes, depending on how thick you want the sauce.
8. Dish out and serve! Feel free to garnish with a few slices of red cabbage and black sesame seeds for color.
This makes 2 servings of Vegetarian Red Coconut Curry. Each serving comes out to 398 Calories, 40.73g Fats, 7.86g Carbs, and 3.91g Protein.
| Vegetarian Red Coconut Curry | Calories | Fats(g) | Carbs(g) | Fiber(g) | Net Carbs(g) | Protein(g) |
| 1 cup (91 g) broccoli florets | 31 | 0.34 | 6.04 | 2.4 | 3.64 | 2.57 |
| 1 cup spinach | 7 | 0.12 | 1.09 | 0.7 | 0.39 | 0.86 |
| 4 tablespoons coconut oil | 485 | 53.89 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ¼ medium (27.5 g) onion | 11 | 0.03 | 2.57 | 0.5 | 2.07 | 0.3 |
| 1 teaspoon minced garlic | 4 | 0.01 | 0.93 | 0.1 | 0.83 | 0.18 |
| 1 teaspoon minced ginger | 2 | 0.01 | 0.36 | 0 | 0.36 | 0.04 |
| 2 teaspoons Fysh sauce | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 teaspoons soy sauce | 6 | 0.06 | 0.52 | 0.1 | 0.42 | 0.86 |
| 1 tablespoon red curry paste | 20 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| ½ cup coconut cream | 225 | 27 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 2 |
| Totals | 796 | 81.46 | 21.51 | 5.8 | 15.71 | 7.81 |
| Per Serving(/2) | 398 | 40.73 | 10.76 | 2.9 | 7.86 | 3.91 |
Vegetarian Red Coconut Curry
Ingredients
- 1 cup broccoli florets
- 1 large handful of spinach
- 4 tablespoons coconut oil
- ¼ medium onion
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon minced ginger
- 2 teaspoons Fysh sauce
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon red curry paste
- ½ cup coconut cream or coconut milk
Instructions
- Chop onions and minced garlic. Add 2 tbsp. Coconut Oil to a pan and bring to medium-high heat.
- Once hot, add onions to the pan and cook until semi-translucent. Then add garlic to the the pan to brown it.
- Turn heat down to medium-low and add broccoli to the pan. Stir everything together well.
- Once broccoli is partially cooked, move vegetables to the side of the pan and add curry paste. Let this cook for 45-60 seconds.
- Add spinach on top of the broccoli and once it begins to wilt, add the coconut cream and the rest of the coconut oil.
- Stir together and add soy sauce, fysh sauce, and ginger. Let simmer for 5-10 minutes, depending on the thickness you want.
